John Ruwitch, Jakarta – East Timor leader Xanana Gusmao will remain a key figure in the impoverished territory's painful transition to independence despite resigning as head of the de facto parliament, UN officials said on Thursday.
Gusmao quit on Wednesday in a letter to the UN representative in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who has administered the former Portuguese colony since it voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999. As East Timor's key political figure and independence hero, Gusmao has previously used resignation threats to get his way.
"He is fully engaged in the [political] process...," said a UN official in the East Timor capital Dili who declined to be identified, adding Gusmao had retained his post as head of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), the main pro-independence group.
Vieira de Mello told a meeting of international donors in Dili on Thursday he understood Gusmao's position, and said the resignation would free up the charismatic leader to focus on his grassroots work as head of CNRT.
"Now Xanana Gusmao will have more time to make sure that this process [of transition] will continue to be peaceful, balanced and responsible ... and we will prove to all sceptics that they are wrong," an aide, speaking by telephone from Dili, quoted Vieira de Mello as saying.
In November, Gusmao proposed resigning to focus on his CNRT work, but Vieira de Mello convinced him to stay on until the National Council finalised a critical electoral law, which it did in mid March.
East Timor aims to achieve formal independence at the end of 2001, two years after pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military laid waste to the territory when it voted to break from Indonesia's harsh 23-year rule.
Tipped by some to become East Timor's first president after elections slated for August 30, Gusmao said internal squabbling in the National Council was delaying decisions on details of the constitution and sowing confusion among the population.
He added he was taking the step after the National Council on Tuesday refused to pass a regulation creating a commission that would allow for grassroots consultation before drafting a constitution for the fledgling territory. "It's important to stress that I see it as a priority, the need for engagement in this process of constitutional consultation," Vieira de Mello added.
Under plans for transition to full statehood, an estimated 400,000 eligible voters are due to elect a Constituent Assembly in the territory's first democratic elections on August 30. The assembly will then have 90 days to prepare and approve a constitution ahead of full independence set for late 2001.
Gusmao disillusioned
A political analyst in Dili said Gusmao was disillusioned with the National Council. "I think he saw [it] as a very important regulation," the analyst said.
She said many people had previously expected that Gusmao, who spent seven years in an Indonesian jail for his guerrilla activities, would not run for president in August. "But then a lot of other people say: 'Well, who else is there?' He's the only one with credibility. He's one of the only ones with the base support," she added.
The charismatic leader has no heir apparent. Gusmao, who was released from jail in Jakarta shortly before the vote for independence, had previously warned that East Timor was in danger of plunging back into political chaos.
The first UN official said Gusmao's resignation underscored the need for politicians to stop squabbling and focus on the transition to independence in East Timor, which has had little but hardship under either Portuguese or Indonesian rule.
"Maybe it is a good strong call to remind people that they shouldn't be too political at this point and that they should be very concentrated on the transition and on the preparations for the [August] election and independence," the UN official said.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it a year later in a move never recognised by the United Nations.